Other Practical Uses for Common Household Items
The editors of Reader’s Digest claim that every tip was tested in their homes and backyards, and that the book centers on inexpensive and clever uses for 204 household items ranging from salt and yogurt to even toothpaste and, believe it or not, pantyhose.
My goal with this particular article is to “bait” you a bit with some of the really interesting ones I found and maybe entice you into a Reader’s Digest subscription as well so that you may begin to enjoy these little “extras” that I have come to so look forward to with my subscription. So, without any further buildup, lets throw out a few and see what ‘sticks”, and if something does stick, I’ll bet the book can tell you how to “clean it up”. I couldn’t resist a little humor, ok, seriously, here we go.
First off, I’m betting that you didn’t know that Kool-Aid would be that one household item that could remove stains from your dishwasher, am I right? How about the fact that it also can get stubborn stains off of concrete steps and porches? Now Kool-Aid may not be something you keep handy around the house, but if these type of stains are something you deal with from time to time, I can tell you for sure that keeping a couple of packets around for just such an emergency would be a lot more cost effective than a cleaner specifically manufactured for these jobs.
You may heard about this next one already, but you probably haven’t tried it for fear of the ridicule you may get for admitting to it, but the inside of banana peels really do give leather shoes a terrific shine, and a nice scent of banana as well for a short time. I love bananas, my family loves bananas, so I am here to tell you I won’t be buying actual shoe polish again any time soon as this one has really proven itself to me to work better than advertised in my opinion.
Ok, guys, are you one of those that forgets to wear an undershirt under a white dress shirt? I thought so, well if your white shirts now also have those lovely perspiration stains under the armpits because of your forgetfulness, try crushing two aspirin and mixing them with warm water, about a 1/2 cup, and then soaking the stains in this concentration for about 3 hours and the stains should be gone. I tried this on a shirt collar as well, and it worked fairly well as I had to do it twice, but it did work. It also helped me to rub the mixture into the stain as well.
Now this one I haven’t had to do, but would love to test to see if it actually works, but if you have ever cracked, not broken, but cracked a plate from a china set, you might be able to mend the crack with milk, yes milk, by placing the plate in a pan, covering it with milk, bring it to a boil, and then lowering the heat to a simmer for a bout 45 minutes. The book says this mend most “fine” cracks in china. I’m intrigued here, but not enough to risk a piece of the wife’s china, how about you try it and let me know how it works.
A long standing joke in many households is about all the things that “duct tape” can be used for, and that many husbands only have duct tape in their tool box, well gentlemen, the book attempts to vindicate you a bit, but covering some of the many uses for duct tape that prove once and for all that duct tape truly is the one item no tool box can be without. Things such as temporary toilet seat repair, which for me would probably be permanent because I am inherently cheap, temporarily hemming pants or even using the many different colors of duct tape now available besides “battleship gray” to wrap holiday gifts by either creating design patterns directly on gift boxes, or pressing the tape into the seams between box cover and box base to seal the gift.
The book also goes into details about some “quirkier” re-uses of items around the house, and even some beauty tips and ways to minimize foot odors that may take some guts to try, but again the editors swear by their results, and it sure must have been getting this assignment, that much is certain.
Anyway, I’ll leave you with this challenge, if you have the time and patience to try some of what is listed in the book, try what I have done as an extension of the result. I have taken an empty coffee can and started putting the money I have saved by not buying commercially produced remedies for this common household needs in to the can, and I have to tell you at this point, the can is about a 1/3 full and by the end of the year I may actually be onto to something, perhaps a book of my own on “Quirky Ways to SAVE Money.” Stranger things have happened.
